Episode Details

What happens when the world’s safety net disappears? For decades, international aid has helped fight poverty, stop disease outbreaks, and keep fragile societies from falling over the edge. But after the shutdown of USAID last year, the relief system is in danger of collapsing entirely. International Rescue Committee President & CEO David Miliband joins Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World Podcast to talk about the long shadow cast by America’s retreat from global aid and what comes next.

In truth, there has never been enough humanitarian aid to help the millions of people who desperately need it each year. But amid two major global crises–the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the war in Iran–the system is under more strain than ever before. Humanitarian aid is more than charity, it’s what keeps crises from spiraling out of control and conflict from spilling over borders. Can anything be done to keep the system from collapsing entirely? Who, if anyone, is stepping up to fill the vacuum left by the United States? Fresh from a trip to Ukraine, Miliband talks about the humanitarian need on the ground there, the ripple effects of the US pullback, and where the international relief system goes from here.

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